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Friday, February 15, 2008

Top ten out of place artifacts

Walk into any modern museum, or open any history textbook, and thepicture of the past presented is one in which humanity started fromprimitive beginnings, and steadily progressed upward in the developmentof culture and science. Most of the artifacts preserved in archaeologicaland geological records have been neatly arranged to fit this acceptedlinear view of our past.

Yet many other tantalizing bits and pieces unearthed offer a very differentstory of what really happened. Called out-of-place artifacts, they don't fit theestablished pattern of prehistory, pointing back instead to the existence ofadvanced civilizations before any of the known ancient cultures came intobeing.

Though such discoveries with their inherent sophistication are well-documented, most historians would like to sweep these disturbinganomalies under the proverbial rug. But the rug of true history is getting verylumpy, and hard to step across without tripping over such obviouscontradictions to the conservative picture of antiquity.

What's more, the mysterious artifacts confirm ancient legends and storieswhich describe human history not as linear, but cyclic. Forgotten ages andformer worlds rose and fell in great cycles of life and death over millions ofyears, lost to our memory except in myths, and now, through a few amazingpieces left to us. Here are the top ten out-of-place artifacts and what theyreveal to us about our missing legacy:

1. BAFFLING BATTERIES OF BABYLON

In 1938, Dr. Wilhelm Kong, an Austrian archaeologist rummaging throughthe basement of the museum made a find that was to drastically alter allconcepts of ancient science. A 6-inch-high pot of bright yellow clay datingback two millennia contained a cylinder of sheet-copper 5 inches by 1.5inches. The edge of the copper cylinder was soldered with a 60-40 lead-tinalloy comparable to today's best solder. The bottom of the cylinder wascapped with a crimped-in copper disk and sealed with bitumen or asphalt.Another insulating layer of asphalt sealed the top and also held in place aniron rod suspended into the center of the copper cylinder. The rod showedevidence of having been corroded with acid. With a background inmechanics, Dr. Konig recognized this configuration was not a chancearrangement, but that the clay pot was nothing less than an ancient electricbattery.

The ancient battery in the Baghdad Museum as well as those others whichwere unearthed in Iraq all date from the Parthian Persian occupationbetween 248 B.C. and A.D. 226. However, Konig found copper vasesplated with silver in the Baghdad Museum excavated from Sumerianremains in southern Iraq dating back to at least 2500 B.C. When the vaseswere lightly tapped a blue patina or film separated from the surfaces,characteristic of silver electroplated to copper. It would appear then that thePersians inherited their batteries from the earliest known civilization in theMiddle East.

2. THE STRANGE ELECTRON TUBES FROM DENDERA

In different locations within the Late Ptolemaic Temple of Hathor atDendera in Egypt are curious wall engravings which Egyptologists cannotexplain in traditional religio-mythic terms, but about which electricalengineers are finding very modern interpretations.

In one chamber, No. 17, the topmost panel, depicts Egyptian priestsoperating what look like oblong tubes, performing various specific tasks.Each tube has a serpent extending its full length inside. Swedish engineerHenry Kjellson, in his book Forvunen Teknik (Disappeared Technology),noted that in the hieroglyphs these serpents are translated as seref, whichmeans to glow, and believes it refers to some form of electrical current. Inthe scene, to the extreme right appears a box on top where sits an imageof the Egyptian god Atum-Ra, which identifies the box as the energysource. Attached to the box is a braided cable which electromagneticsengineer Alfred D. Bielek identified as virtually an exact copy ofengineering illustrations used today for representing a bundle of conductingelectrical wires. The cable runs from the box the full length of the floor of thepicture, and terminates at both the ends and at the bases of the tubeobjects. These objects each rest on a pillar called a djed, which Bielekidentified as a high-voltage insulator.

The tube objects look very much like TV picture tubes, an impression whichis not far from wrong, for electronics technician N. Zecharius has identifiedthe objects as Crookes or electron tubes, the forerunner of the moderntelevision tube.

Though the upper chamber scenes have been damaged by vandals from alater age, other pictures found inside the crypt below the Holy of Holies arealmost perfectly preserved, and their portrayal deepens the mystery of thestrange electron tubes even further. Here, not only are the tubes shown infull operation, but something else has been added which may suggest theultimate purpose for the tubes themselves. In several instances, both menand women are shown sitting underneath the tubes, hands held out andcupped, which meant they were in a receptive mode. What kind of radiationtreatment was being performed here?

3. THE ENIGMA OF THE ASHOKA PILLAR

A testimony to ancient metallurgical skills in Delhi, India is called theAshoka Pillar. Standing over 23 feet, it averages 16 inches in diameter andweighs about 6 tons. The solid wrought-iron shaft is made up of expertlywelded discs. An inscription on the base is an epitaph to King ChandraGupta II, who died in A.D. 413.

Despite being well over a millennium and a half in age, the Pillar'sconstitution is remarkably preserved. The smooth surface is like polishedbrass with only occasional instances of pock-marks and weathering. Themystery is that any equivalent mass of iron, subjected to the Indianmonsoon rains, winds and temperatures for 1,600 years or more wouldhave been reduced to rust long ago.

Production of the iron and the techniques of preservation are far beyond5th century abilities. It is probably far older, maybe several thousand years.Who were the mysterious metallurgists who made this wonder, and whathappened to their civilization?

4. AN OUT-OF-PLACE COMPUTER FROM ANTIKYTHERA

A few days before Easter Sunday in 1900, Greek sponge divers off thesmall island of Antikythera discovered the remains of an ancient ship filledwith bronze and marble statues and assorted artifacts later dated between85 and 50 B.C.

Among the finds was a small formless lump of corroded bronze and rottedwood. which was sent along with the other artifacts to the National Museumin Athens for further study. Soon, as the wood fragments dried and shrankfrom exposure to air, the lump split open revealing inside the outlines of aseries of gear wheels like a modern clock.

In 1958 Dr. Derek J. de Solla Price successfully reconstructed themachine's appearance and use. The gearing system calculated the annualmovements of the sun and moon. The arrangement shows that the gearscould be moved forward and backward with ease at any speed. The devicewas thus not a clock but more like a calculator that could show the positionsof the heavens past, present and future.

It is highly possible that the device may have origins ages long before theGreeks, and in a land far removed, now unknown.

5. FLIGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

In 1898 a curious winged object was discovered in the tomb of Pa-di-Imenin north Saqqara, Egypt dated to about 200 B.C. Because the birth ofmodern aviation was still several years away, when the strange artifact wassent to the Cairo Museum, it was catalogued and then shelved amongother miscellaneous items to gather dust.

Seventy years later, Dr. Kahlil Messiha, an Egyptologist and archaeologist,was examining a Museum display labeled bird figurines. While most of thedisplay were indeed bird sculptures, the Saqqara artifact was certainly not.It possessed characteristics never found on birds, yet which are part ofmodern aircraft design. Dr. Messiha, a former model plane enthusiast,immediately recognized the aircraft features and persuaded the EgyptianMinistry of Culture to investigate.

Made of very light sycamore the craft weighs 0.5 oz. with straight andaerodynamically shaped wings, spanning about 7 inches. A separateslotted piece fits onto the tail precisely like the back tail wing on a modernplane.

A full-scale version could have flown carrying heavy loads, but at lowspeeds, between 45 and 65 miles per hour. What is not known, however, iswhat the power source was. The model makes a perfect glider as it is.Even though over 2,000 years old, it will soar a considerable distance withonly a slight jerk of the hand. Fully restored balsa replicas travel evenfarther.

Messiha notes that the ancient Egyptians often built scale models ofeverything familiar in their daily lives and placed them in their tombs,temples, ships, chariots, servants, animals and so forth. Now that we havefound a model plane, Messiha wonders if perhaps somewhere under thedesert sands there may yet be unearthed the remains of life-sized gliders.

6. A JET FROM SOUTH AMERICA

In 1954 the government of Colombia sent part of its collection of ancientgold artifacts on a U. S. tour. Emmanuel Staubs, one of America's leadingjewelers, was commissioned to cast reproductions of six of the objects.Fifteen years later one was given to biologist-zoologist Ivan T. Sandersonfor analysis. After a thorough examination and consulting a number ofexperts, Sanderson's mind-boggling conclusion was that the object is amodel of a high-speed aircraft at least a thousand years old.

Approximately 2 inches long the object was worn as a pendant on a neckchain. It was classified as Sinu, a pre-Inca culture from A.D. 500 to 800.Both Sanderson and Dr. Arthur Poyslee of the Aeronautical Institute of NewYork concluded it did not represent any known winged animal. In fact, thelittle artifact appears more mechanical than biological. For example, thefront wings are delta-shaped and rigidly straight edged, very un-animal-like.

The rudder is perhaps the most un-animal but airplane-like item. It is right-triangle, flat-surfaced, and rigidly perpendicular to the wings. Only fish haveupright tail fins, but none have exclusively an upright flange without acounter-balancing lower one. Adding to the mystery, an insignia appearson the left face of the rudder, precisely where ID marks appear on manyairplanes today. The insignia is perhaps as out-of place as the gold modelitself, for it has been identified as the Aramaic or early Hebrew letter bethor B. This may indicate that the original plane did not come from Colombia,but was the product of a very early people inhabiting the Middle East whoknew the secret of flying.

7. CRYSTAL SKULL FROM ATLANTIS

Without doubt the most famous and enigmatic ancient crystal is the skull,discovered in 1927 by F.A. Mitchell-Hedges atop a ruined temple at theancient Mayan city of Lubaantum, in British Honduras, now Belize.

The skull was made from a single block of clear quartz, 5 inches high, 7inches long and 5 inches wide. It is about the size of a small humancranium, with near perfect detail. In 1970, art restorer Frank Dorland wasgiven permission to submit the skull to tests at the Hewlitt-PackardLaboratories. Revealed were many anomalies.

The skull had been carved with total disregard to the natural crystal axis, aprocess unheard-of in modern crystallography. No metal tools were used.Dorland was unable to find any tell-tale scratch marks. Indeed, most metalswould have been ineffectual. A modern penknife cannot mark it. From tinypatterns near the carved surfaces, Dorland determined it was first chiseledinto rough form, probably using diamonds. The finer shaping, grinding andpolishing, Dorland believes, was done with innumerable applications ofwater and silicon-crystal sand. If true, it would have taken 300 years ofcontinuous labor. We must accept this almost unimaginable feat, or admitto the use of some form of lost technology.

Modern science is stumped to explain the skill and knowledgeincorporated. As Garvin summarized:It is virtually impossible today, in thetime when men have climbed mountains on the moon, to duplicate thisachievement...It would not be a question of skill, patience and time. It wouldsimply be impossible. As one crystallographer from Hewlitt-Packard said,The damned thing shouldn't be.

8. WHO SHOT NEANDERTHAL MAN?

The Museum of Natural History in London displays an early Paleolithic skull,dated at 38,000 years old, and excavated in 1921 in modern Zambia. Onthe left side of the skull is a perfectly round hole nearly a third of an inch indiameter. Curiously, there are no radial split-lines around the hole or othermarks that should have been left by a cold weapon, such as an arrow orspear. Opposite the hole, the cranium is shattered, and reconstruction ofthe fragments show the skull was blown from the inside out, as from a rifleshot. In fact, any slower a projectile would have produced neither the neathole nor the shattering effect. Forensic experts who have examined theskull agree the cranial damage could not have been caused by anything buta high-speed projectile, purposely fired at the prehistoric victim, with intentto kill.

If such a weapon was indeed fired at the man, then one of two conclusionscan be made: Either the specimen is not as old as it is claimed to be, andwas shot by a European in recent centuries, or the remains are as old asclaimed, and the marksman was ancient too. In view of the fact that thePaleolithic skull was excavated from a depth of 60 feet, mostly of lead rock,the second conclusion is more plausible. But who possessed gunpowder38,000 years ago? Certainly not Stone Age man himself. Another racemust have existed, one far more advanced and civilized, yet contemporary.The question is, where did that rifle-toting marksman call home?

9. THE INCREDIBLE STONE OF DR. CABRERA

A very unique time-capsule of images is housed in a warehouse in Ica,

Peru. Here are some 20,000 stone boulders, tablets, and baseball-sizedrocks, decorated with an astounding assortment of pictures, in many casesvery much out of time and place. The owner is local physician, amateurarcheologist and geologist Dr. Javier Cabrera Darquea.

Most material employed is a gray andesite, an extremely hard graniticsemi-crystalline matrix, that is very difficult to carve. But as Dr. Cabreraobserved, People have been finding these engraved stones in the regionfor years. They were first seen and recorded by Jesuit missionary FatherSimon, who accompanied Pizarro in 1525. Samples were shipped toSpain in 1562.

The stone portraits show very sophisticated surgery skills and medicalknowledge, in some cases as advanced, and even more advanced, thantoday. There are scenes of Caesarean sections, blood transfusions, theuse of acupuncture needles as an anesthetic (which only gained use in theWest since the late 1970s), delicate operations on the lungs and kidneys,and removal of cancerous tumors. There are likewise detailed images ofopen heart and open brain surgery, as well as 20 stones showing a step-by-step heart transplant procedure.

This is a disturbing revelation in itself, that someone in unknown antiquityachieved a level of sophistication rivaling our own. But there are otherpictures even more out-of-place. As Dr. Cabrera noted, and as has beenverified by other medical physicians, there are stone etchings which show abrain transplant. The prehistoric surgeons, it is evident, possessedknowledge several steps beyond modern-day surgery.

10. MANUFACTURED METALS MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD

For the past three decades miners at the Wonderstone Silver Mine nearOttosdal in the Western Transvaal, South Africa, have been extracting outof deep rock several strange metallic spheroids. So far at least 200 havebeen found. In 1979, several were closely examined by J.R. McIver,professor of geology at the University of Witwaterstand in Johannesburg,and geologist professor Andries Bisschoff of Potsshefstroom University.

The metallic spheroids look like flattened globes, averaging 1 to 4 inches indiameter, and their exteriors usually are colored steel blue with a reddishreflection, and embedded in the metal are tiny flecks of white fibers. Theyare made of a nickel-steel alloy which does not occur naturally, and is of acomposition that rules them out, being of meteoric origin. Some have onlya thin shell about a quarter of an inch thick, and when broken open arefound filled with a strange spongy material that disintegrated into dust oncontact with the air.

What makes all this very remarkable is that the spheroids were mined outof a layer of pyrophyllite rock, dated both geologically and by the variousradio-isotope dating techniques as being at least 2.8 to 3 billion years old.

Adding mystery to mystery, Roelf Marx, curator of the South AfricanKlerksdorp Museum, has discovered that the spheroid he has on exhibitslowly rotates on its axis by its own power, while locked in its display caseand free of outside vibrations. There may thus be an energy extant withinthese spheroids still operating after three eons of time.

10 comments:

This has absolutely nothing to do with your post and I apologize but I had to write what i'm about to say to you. I didn't see an e-mail or anything so here seems the best place for it. You can erase this after you read it if you like.

Not to take away from you obviously being extremely articulate...

You are also extremely beautiful from the outside and just a bit out of your mind but sanely all together to be gorgeous.

I'm sitting here reading your page laughing and disturbed all at once then I take a glance at your photo and can't believe that all this is coming from you! lol simi-joking of course but..yeah

so this is what i get for dropping an entrecard on ur page ^.^ not complaining - im glad u like what you are finding here. drop by often - and who knows, i might write something about u...if u be a good boy =P -- i might write something nice ^.^

thanks for sharing this post leah.i love love ancient topics,remains, prehistoric era blah blah..it makes me wonder how both beautiful and crazy the world is(out of your crazy world of course,lol!)i think there were some of that featured in NatGeo.prolly,modern men werent really the one who ever first stepped on the moon then huh?!nothing but to share,a blog reader of mine said that cathara is like an ancient race sent to help us recover our lost ways.seems like im really connected to ancient mysteries.:Dthanks for sharing again.i surely subscribed.keep posting!